It's Friday night and tomorrow I have to fly back home to Kansas but this has been an awesome trip. First I recommend getting a personal guide for your first full day in Prague and we used the one recommend in the RS Prague guide, it really helps to have someone who knows the old town area to show you the ways to get around and where to go to avoid crowds and tourist traps. The Prague Castle is great and the old town square with the huge clock is not to be missed but we found several "backdoor" experiences I wanted to share:
1) The Prague Botanical Gardens is a wonderful place to take a 1/2 day and get away from the crowds, the floweres are beautiful, the huge green house has plants from all over the world and there is a Japanese garden area with streams and waterfalls that was my favorite, as you continue through the gardens you end up in a vineyard and they have an area where you can purchase Czech wine that was grown right there to sample!
2) The Grayline Evening Dinner cruise that docks just in front of the Intercontinental Hotel was a nice surprise, the food is good (not gourmet) but tasted fine, the boat crusies the main river through Prague while you dine and enjoy wine or beer and there is a band that plays jazz during the cruise. I enjoyed this evening watching the lights of Prague much more than I thought I would.
3) Day trip to Karlstjd Castle is well worth the time, the castle structure is in good shape and our tour guide was excellent in explaining the history of the castle and the key people in Czech history. The trip is only 30-40 min ride from Prague center and the countryside is beautiful.
4) Spanish Synagogue is one of the most interesting buildings I've been in and one of the most beautiful synagogues in Europe and even better is we returned in the evening and they host string quartet concerts that are very reasonable cost wise. The music is truly inspiring as you sit in the building and they play everything from classical pieces to songs by the rock group Queen!
Prague is a wonderful place and your dollar goes along way here making it a must see!